Page 67 of Riding Dirty

He closes the distance between us, and then, before I realize what’s happening, he cups my cheeks and presses his lips against mine in a hard, owning kiss. I curl my fingers around his wrists and somewhat attempt to tug his hands away from me, but not hard enough, because I don’t really want that. I just want to make a show of it.

CHAPTER

FIFTY-ONE

ELODIE

“Elodie,” he groans before he rests his forehead against mine. Something ignites inside me when he groans my name, as if sparks actually burst in my veins.

His hands slide down my throat before they curl around my waist, holding on to me. Coast tugs me close to him, and my hands grip his biceps as I tilt my head back. My eyes find his instantly.

“You didn’t do my dirty work for me, Haze. I shouldn’t have asked you to do what I did, but make no mistake, you were not doing my dirty work. I would never do that to you.”

“Then what do you call it?”

He hums as his gaze searches mine, obviously not bothered at all by my questions. Actually, it seems like he thinks I’m being cute. Which I’m not trying to be, really. I’m just trying to keep from climbing him and letting this entire conversation completely die by kissing him… consuming him.

“I call it recon.”

“Why?” I ask, wondering how in the hell recon is any different than me doing his dirty work, because it sounds really damn close to the same thing.

He shifts his head back slightly, but I keep talking. “Why did you burn that building down, and why did you involve me?”

“I told you,” he murmurs. My thighs tremble as he speaks. I don’t know what it is, maybe his deep tone, the rumbling, the whispering. Whatever it is, I’m finding it extremely hard to concentrate as he continues. “I didn’t involve you. It was recon. I just needed to know the layout without being placed there, and you needed the work, so I wanted to make it worth your while.”

“That’s all it was, and then it just happened to burn down?”

Arching a brow, I turn my head slightly as I wait for him to answer me. He chuckles, lowering his head, and shifts it closer, his nose sliding alongside my own. When I feel his head dip a little farther, and his lips brush mine, my entire body trembles.

I want him inside me. I don’t care if he put me out there. I wouldn’t care if he hung me out to dry, at least not right now. Whatever I’m upset about suddenly becomes unimportant. My body doesn’t give a shit at all. Not in the freaking slightest. All I can think about is him inside me and the way it makes me feel when he is.

“Haze,” he begins, “it’s not that it happened to burn down, but if I tell you, you’re part of this world, and you can never leave. Are you ready to commit to me, to this?”

“Commit?” I ask.

I am ready to commit to anything if it means he kisses, touches, and is inside me within the next two minutes. But then I shake my head, coming back to reality, to the words that he’s just said to me.

Am I ready to commit?

To him.

To this.

To an entire future that is so uncertain it teeters on the brink of extreme foolishness and absolute terror.

He hums but doesn’t confirm what he’s said. Not that I wait long enough to let him. Instead, I continue talking, because if I don’t talk, I’m going to kiss him… all of him, every square inch of him, and I’m not going to care if someone walks in and sees us, either.

He releases my waist and cups my cheek. His thumb slices along my bottom lip, tugging at the flesh there before he lowers his head and touches his lips there, then his hand falls, and I feel his fingers grip my ass.

My body lifts in the air, and then he moves, walking forward before he turns and plants my ass on the edge of the kitchen counter.

“I’m dirty and sweaty from working all day,” I exhale, but the last thing I want is for him to stop touching me.

He grunts before lowering his head, his lips touching mine, and then I feel his hands at the waistband of my tight shorts. Then his hand is down inside my shorts. My legs instantly spread as he cups my center.

“Don’t give a fuck,” he murmurs, and every single inch of my skin prickles with goose bumps.

Hell.